Lance Tilghman takes advantage of the high winds kicked up by Subtropical Storm Alberto and gets in a little kite surfing in at Pensacola Beach, on Monday, May 28, 2018. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

A surfer uses his head and his mouth to help hold a miniature video camera to record his surfing encounter with Tropical Storm Alberto early Monday morning just west of the Pensacola Beach pier. Bruce Graner

Lance Tilghman takes advantage of the high winds begin kicked up by subtropical storm Alberto and get a little kite surfing in at Pensacola Beach, Fl, Monday, May 28, 2018. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Garrett Benton takes advantage of the high winds begin kicked up by subtropical storm Alberto and get a little kite surfing in at Pensacola Beach, Fl, Monday, May 28, 2018. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Lance Tilghman takes advantage of the high winds begin kicked up by subtropical storm Alberto and get a little kite surfing in at Pensacola Beach, Fl, Monday, May 28, 2018. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Scott Sandfort takes advantage of the high winds begin kicked up by subtropical storm Alberto and gets in a little wind surfing in at Pensacola Beach, Fl, Monday, May 28, 2018. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Lance Tilghman takes advantage of the high winds begin kicked up by subtropical storm Alberto and get a little kite surfing in at Pensacola Beach, Fl, Monday, May 28, 2018. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Park Rangers with the National Park Service close J. Earle Bowden Way Monday, May 28, 2018. The road runs through the Gulf Islands National Seashore and is prone to flooding. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

Visitors to Pensacola Beach early Monday morning wisely decided to stay out of the water and, with the exception of surfers, confine themselves to walks on the beach and watching the unusually active surf pile up on shore as Tropical Storm Alberto continued to make its approach to the area around Panama City about 95 miles east of Pensacola. Bruce Graner

Visitors to Pensacola Beach early Monday morning wisely decided to stay out of the water and, with the exception of surfers, confine themselves to walks on the beach and watching the unusually active surf pile up on shore as Tropical Storm Alberto continued to make its approach to the area around Panama City about 95 miles east of Pensacola. Bruce Graner

Campers at Fort Pickens pack their gear Saturday, May 26, 2018 ahead of Subtropical Storm Alberto. The National Park Service put a 5 P.M. deadline for campers to leave the park. John Blackie/jblackie@pnj.com

Campers at Fort Pickens pack their gear Saturday, May 26, 2018 ahead of Subtropical Storm Alberto. The Natioanl Park Service put a 5 P.M. deadline for campers to leave the park. John Blackie/jblackie@pnj.com

With a sales-tax "holiday" starting Friday, retailers are expecting big spending on disaster-preparedness supplies by Floridians who have fresh memories of Hurricane Irma.

The six-month hurricane season arrives Friday, along with a weeklong period in which state and local sales taxes will be lifted on a list of disaster supplies. The discount period — which will run from June 1 to June 7 — means about 90 cents to $1.05 in sales taxes will not be applied to a $15 package of batteries or $45 to $52 is left off the purchase of a generator that costs $750.

"Now after being hit by Irma and everything that happened last year, people are well aware of what they need and what they didn’t have last year," said James Miller of the Florida Retail Federation. "They’re going to load up this year. We expect it to be very fruitful for retailers, and consumers are going to be able to save a lot of money on their end as well."

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Subtropical Storm Alberto will make landfall between Destin and Panama City Monday.
Tony Giberson, pnj.com

What can you buy?

Here are some of the items Floridians can buy without paying sales taxes during the holiday period:

Busy hurricane season?

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released what it considered an outlook for a slightly above-average hurricane season, which means 10 to 16 named storms, of which five to nine are expected to reach hurricane status.

The busy 2017 season saw 17 named storms, of which 10 became hurricanes, with six reaching the major storm status.

Mark Wool, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Tallahassee office, said the pre-season outlook is intended to serve as reminder that people need to do storm planning.

"You want to be self-sufficient for up to 72 hours. You want to have non-perishable food items. Batteries. Battery-operated flashlights and radios. You want to make sure you’ve got a first-aid kit. Enough prescription medications to get through the event," Wool said. "Some of the most likely outcomes in these things, especially around here, is a power outage that can last a substantial amount of time."